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Cellular signaling is potentially regulated by cell density in receptor trafficking networks
Author(s) -
Zi Zhike,
Klipp Edda
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2007.08.047
Subject(s) - receptor , signal transduction , microbiology and biotechnology , robustness (evolution) , cell signaling , ligand (biochemistry) , cell surface receptor , cell , biology , chemistry , biophysics , biochemistry , gene
Previous work has shown that receptor trafficking is a potential site for the control of signaling pathways. In most biological experiments, the ligand concentration and cell density vary within a wide range among different systems. However, there is less attention to systematically analyze how much cellular signal response is affected by cell densities. Here, we use a quantitative mathematical model to investigate signal responses in different receptor trafficking networks by simultaneous variations of ligand concentration and cell density. Computational analysis of the model revealed that receptor trafficking networks have potential sigmoid responses to ratio between ligand and surface receptor number per cell, which is a key factor to control the signaling responses in receptor trafficking networks. Furthermore, cell density also affects the robustness of dose–response curve upon the variation of binding affinity.